This is no idle claim either. It is based on an Ambit Engineering Recruitment report.

This pay increase is ahead of the 1.6% national inflation rate and ahead of other sectors where salaries remained mostly flat.

Ambit tracks pay rates and salaries in more than 130 job areas in the resources sector.

It found oil & gas sector senior project managers earn $274,560, up from $264,000 and senior environment managers earn $100,672, up from $96,800.

Ambit chief executive officer Peter Acheson said the strong demand for skilled workers right across the resource sector had inevitably led to pay rises.

He said there was likely to be continued upward pressure on salaries and rates over the next quarter.

"In fact, I expect pay pressure to intensify as many resource sector companies are intending to further increase their hiring levels in the July quarter," Acheson said.

He said greater skills migration was needed to solve the looming crisis.

"While the temporary 457s [visas] are not a long-term solution, it provides a safety valve that relieves the pressure on Australia's skills base and helps ensure confidence in industry capacity," Acheson said.

However, looking overseas it seems these kind of pay increases are not restricted to the booming WA oil & gas game either.

About 18 hours away as the jumbo jet flies a similar survey - albeit looking at more discrete sample, found UK chemical engineers have enjoyed 6% pay rises.

Drilling down further into the Institution of Chemical Engineers survey reveals much more positive results.

The oil and gas production and oil refining sectors reported the highest median salaries of £72,000 per year ($109,290) which was up 15%.

Oil refining chemical engineers reported a £63,800 ($96,830), up 12%.